


To Love Exiled Kings

by elluvias



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/M, M/M, Some angst, canon character death, i didn't know until i wrote this, it is scary how similar thorin and aragorn are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 04:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/670381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elluvias/pseuds/elluvias
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo Baggins decides to offer his hard earned wisdom to Lady Arwen on what she will face loving a king without a kingdom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Love Exiled Kings

“It’s a painful business.”

Arwen looked over at Bilbo Baggins. The old hobbit had become dear to her in the last few months that he had been staying in Rivendell. He was a kind genuine soul, wise in his own way, with his white curly hair and aged face. He came over to her side and sat down beside her.

“What is Master Baggins?”

The hobbit thought for a moment as he took out his pipe and lit it. He seemed to be carefully weighing his words.

“Loving a king without a kingdom.”

She looked at him, surprised. He only gave her a smile, warm but worn. She could see it now, in his eyes, a deep ache, a void that could not be filled by time or distance. A pain that could not actually be eased, but instead accepted as a part of life.

“Especially a king with a destiny as great as his.” Bilbo tilted his head towards the training yard below them. Arwen couldn’t help but let her eyes go back to where they had first been, before Bilbo had come to speak with her.

“How do you know he has a destiny?”

“Don’t all exiled kings with the inner fire, strength, and honor as he has have their own grand destinies? You cannot tell me that you can’t see he is meant to lead his people into a new age of glory.”

“You’re very perceptive Master Baggins. One would think you had the gift of foresight.”

The hobbit laughed shaking his head in wry amusement.

“I do not. I just have experience in these matters. I too once loved an exiled king with a destiny.”

“What happened?”

It was a silly question for her to ask. She already knew what had happened. She had heard of the Battle of the Five Armies. She knew of the deaths of Thorin son of Thrain, King Under the Mountain. She knew the story…but she did not know this piece. Arwen had never heard of Thorin taking up with Bilbo. Or that the hobbit had loved the king.

“I tried to save him from his fate and he died. Oh don’t look so startled m’dear.” Bilbo gently patted Arwen’s knee. “Just listen to an old hobbit for a moment.”

Bilbo took a deep steadying breath. “There will be many things that he will go through that you cannot protect him from. He will most likely throw himself head first into danger for the life of his comrades in arms and beloved friends. He will have to make great and painful decisions. You cannot stop it from happening, if you could he wouldn’t be even half the man you love even if it vexes and pains you to see it happen. He will get hurt, he will get beaten, and he can be broken. That is where you _can_ help him. Because all great men will have to faces their dragons, they will face evils we can scarcely comprehend. You can’t take his sword from him and slay the dragon yourself, but you can find the weaknesses in the dragon and point him towards it. You can find him in the shadows when no one else can and drag him out. After the battle you can find him and put him back together again when he’s forgotten how to. You can be the one person who looks him in the eye and sees not the king or the warrior but the beautifully flawed man beneath those titles.”

The hobbit stared into her eyes, and she felt that despite their vast age difference Bilbo Baggins was a great deal older than her. She nodded her head, to show her understanding but she couldn’t form the words to reply to him yet.

“You also need to remember that no matter how much it might hurt _you_ you may have to save him from himself. I don’t recommend stealing one of the greatest treasures of his people to give to the people threatening to bring war to his doorstep. We still had a great battle that day and he still died, the only difference I made…I think was that he died with his honor intact instead of completely submitting to the darkness in his heart. I very much doubt Strider will be in the same position. He and Thorin, for all their similarities, are very different men. He does not have as much pain in his soul. Thorin, for all he liked to posture and spit in the face of the world for the injustices it did to him and his people, was a very sensitive man. He felt things greater than any other being I’ve witnessed, his love and his hate burned brighter than any fire in a forge or star in the sky. Strider seems more even tempered a good thing I think.”

“Are you sure you’re not a wizard, Master Baggins?” Arwen couldn’t help but wonder. So few people seemed to have as great of wisdom as the wizards and this remarkable hobbit seemed to have the same ability. She did have to smile when the aching pain in Bilbo’s eyes fled and she was given another of his kind smiles.

“Of course not! I’m far too small to be a wizard despite probably being as old as one now. I also don’t speak in riddles and I keep my meddling to a minimum.”

“Really? So you weren’t meddling right now?” Her voice was light and teasing, earning another smile and a chuckle from the wizened old hobbit.

“I said to a minimum, not that I never meddled. I’m old now, I think I’ve earned the right to poke my nose in things here and there and give my opinion on the matter.”

“I appreciate it.” Arwen replied, surprised at how sincere she was. So few seemed to understand her attraction to Aragorn, and even fewer condoned it. She felt that she had found a kindred spirit in this hobbit. One who knew how difficult it was to love someone who she wasn’t supposed to, one who could see that there were many things her beloved was meant to do. Someone who had walked down the road she was about to travel and who wanted to wish her well and tell her of the dangers along the path.

“You’re welcome.” Bilbo smiled at her once more, taking a final puff of his pipe before dumping out the ashes. “I am here if you ever need to talk, Lady Arwen. I do believe it’s time for me to go pester Erestor on showing me his hidden stash of dwarven texts again.” With that he got up from his spot beside her and walked away.

She hadn’t known she’d needed someone to talk to. She hadn’t known she had needed a confidant. But Arwen was glad that Bilbo Baggins had meddled in her life and shown her what she had needed.


End file.
